Residential solar leases didn't exist five years ago. Yet these days more than half of all residential installations here in California are sold as leases. Leases are popular because most of us don't have tens of thousands of dollars sitting around, and, with home prices down, home equity loans are tough to get.

But there's a problem with the solar leases being used: they're complicated. And designing contracts to be more complicated than they need to be is a great way to slip unfair provisions into them.

Meanwhile, too many solar salespeople seem to be ex-used car salesmen. "It's a special deal – you HAVE to sign today!" That’s ridiculous – you should not do business with anyone who is unwilling to let you have a copy of the contract BEFORE the day you're expected to sit with him/her and sign it.

In the following few pages, I will try to make you a smarter consumer. But this is harder than it sounds, since the major solar lease companies are way too secretive with their contracts. If I did show their contract text, they would claim that I violated their privacy, and I expect that they would spend lots of time and effort making my life miserable. So instead, I'll just share what I can. (Note to the leasing companies reading this: Help me be an advocate for you; send me your current lease text, and give me permission to share it!)

My hope is that, if you review this site now, some day in the future, when you're handed a solar lease, you'll be able to skim over the easy stuff, and keep your eyes peeled for the text that matters.

Finally: I need your feedback. Make this a better site by sharing with me your own experiences with solar lease agreements.